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* Goldman Sachs, Citigroup fall after results
* Financials biggest drag among S&P sectors
* Indexes down: Dow 0.14%, S&P 0.11%, Nasdaq 0.12% (Updates prices to open)
By Amy Caren Daniel
April 15 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks slipped on Monday, weighedby losses in financial stocks as earnings from Wall Street's bigbanks Goldman Sachs and Citigroup failed to impress.
Goldman Sachs Group IncGS.N fell 2.6%, while CitigroupInc C.N declined 1%. Both banks beat quarterly profitestimates, but their revenue missed.
The financial sector .SPSY dipped 0.48%, and the S&Pbanking index .SPXBK fell 0.66%.
"People are sort of looking for direction," said ScottBrown, chief economist at Raymond James in St. Petersburg,Florida.
"We've got a lot of earnings reports coming in, includingthe banks, and they are important because they ought to tell ussomething about the state of the economy."
Monday's results follow JPMorgan Chase'sJPM.N upbeatearnings on Friday that eased fears of first-quarter earningsseason slamming the brakes on Wall Street's big rally back fromlast year's slump.
The benchmark S&P 500 index .SPX is now within a percentof its September record closing high.
In a bright spot, the healthcare sector .SPXHC rose 0.2%,bouncing back from a rough week, led by a more than 1% gain inUnitedHealth Group IncUNH.N , CVS Health CorpCVS.N andAnthem Inc ANTM.N .
On the trade front, Reuters reported that U.S. negotiatorshave tempered demands that China curb industrial subsidies as acondition for a deal, while Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchinsaid he hoped the talks were approaching a final lap.
At 10:01 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was down 38.21 points, or 0.14%, at 26,374.09. The S&P 500 .SPX was down 3.06 points, or 0.11%, at 2,904.35 and theNasdaq Composite .IXIC was down 9.48 points, or 0.12%, at7,974.68.
Of the 29 S&P 500 companies reporting results so far, 79.3%have surpassed first-quarter earnings estimate, above theaverage of past four quarters, according to Refinitiv data.
Analysts expect S&P 500 companies to show a 2.3%year-on-year decline in earnings, their first annual contractionsince 2016.
Among other stocks, Waste Management IncWM.N rose 2.2%after the company said it would buy smaller rival AdvancedDisposal Services IncADSW.N for about $3 billion.
Boeing CoBA.N fell 0.7% after U.S. President Donald Trumpurged the planemaker in a tweet to fix and "rebrand" itstroubled jetliner. Brand consultancy firm Brand Finance saidnegative publicity over the grounding of its 737 MAX jet is setto wipe $12 billion off the company's brand value.
Nike IncNKE.N rose 0.7% after long-time brand ambassadorTiger Woods won the Masters title, ending an 11-year major titledrought.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.08-to-1 ratioon the NYSE and for a 1.22-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 48 new 52-week highs and one newlows, while the Nasdaq recorded 56 new highs and 19 new lows. (Reporting by Amy Caren Daniel and Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru;Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila) ((Amy.CarenDaniel@thomsonreuters.com ; within U.S.+1-646-223-8780; outside U.S. +91 80 6749 9250 ; ReutersMessaging: Amy.CarenDaniel.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net;))
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
